Key details of councillor expense data missing
Niagara Region has released another batch of councillor expense data this month, but it doesn’t include receipts, supporting documents or even how much money councillors claimed for some items.
The only way to get the complete records, according to the Region’s acting clerk, is to file a freedom of information request.
Two weeks ago, the Region published a spreadsheet containing councillor expense information for 2017, including previously unreleased months of data, and the first quarter of 2018.
However, the information release lacks the detail of previously released records for this term of council — published by the Region online in late January — making it impossible to determine exactly how councillors are spending the public’s money.
While past releases included itemized councillor expense forms, including receipts, the new spreadsheet omits key details, including the full dollar amounts for any expense claim made by a councillor that included the harmonized sales tax.
No explanation for the changes are provided in the data, which can be found at www.niagaraopendata.com.
In an email, acting clerk AnnMarie Norio said the previous, detailed release of expense data was a “one-time substantial disclosure that the Region provided.”
Norio did not respond to multiple interview requests by The Standard, but in emails said publishing of receipts and other supporting documentation would be a violation of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act.
She wrote that the act requires information published by the Region online be scannable by a screen reader for people with vision impairments. Because some information from receipts would be redacted before being posted online, a screen reader cannot scan them.
The Standard asked Norio if the previous release of receipts is in violation of the act. In an email, she said that information was a one-time release of data.
Norio would not release receipts or other documentation and directed The Standard to the FOI process.
The release of councillor expenses in January followed several stories by The Standard on the issue. In September, The Standard filed an FOI request for all councillor expenses and supporting documents for this term, which began in late 2014.
Shortly after the newspaper’s request, Regional Chair Alan Caslin filed his own FOI for the
records. The Region’s information office asked The Standard to put its request aside in favour of Caslin’s. The paper refused and the Region denied The Standard’s request and processed Caslin’s.
Caslin has declined multiple interview requests from The Standard, including one made this week, to discuss his expenses — they include several expensive meals listed as meetings with constituents — and council’s expense policy.
Although Norio said the Region has “improved our data collection from councillors to include more specifics, which provide additional and more transparent data,” The Standard has found that, in some cases, the new format omits specific details.
For instance, previous records show that Fort Erie Coun. Sandy Annunziata billed Niagara taxpayers for mileage for repeated trips to appear on a radio talk show in Toronto. His original mileage forms list the days, mileage and purpose for the expense claim.
In the new data, all of those trips, along with council meetings and communities events, have been lumped under the single heading of “regional meetings” with no further explanation.
The format in the new spreadsheets is not the only change in the information released by the Region.
Previously released information showed precisely how much money councillors were claiming for meals, event tickets and other purchases. That is no longer the case. The spreadsheets list these items as “amount with-non refundable HST,” which is less than the amount actually claimed by councillors.
According to Helen Chamberlain, director of financial management and planning, the Region is rebated most of the HST after the fact on items purchased by councillors.
Chamberlain, whose department is not responsible for the release of expense data, said after the rebate the Region only pays 1.75 per cent tax, rather than the full 13 per cent HST. That amount is retroactively deducted from each item with HST claimed by a councillor in the municipality’s “data book,” which is the basis for the recently released expense data.
Councillors, however, are paid for the full amount they claim.
The information released by the clerk’s office does not explain the difference, nor how a member of the public can determine how much a councillor claimed as an expense.